A good story extends from the play to the outside of the play. When the flowers bloom, it is not only the "never forgetting" of Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, but also the "must have an echo" of the ancestor of a hundred operas and the city of gardens.
Last night (April 12), the 20-year-old youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" was presented in the form of a highlight book at the Esplanade in Singapore. The performance is an important part of the "Meet the Lion City, Meet Suzhou" Cultural Week, which not only celebrates the 30th anniversary of the development and construction of the Suzhou Industrial Park, the first flagship cooperation project between the Chinese and New Zealand governments, but also contributes to the in-depth exchanges and deepening cooperation between China and Singapore with the silent Jiangnan culture.
Fifteen years ago, also at the Marina Theatre in Singapore, the youth version of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera brand repertoire "The Peony Pavilion" in Jiangsu Province went out of China and was performed in Singapore, which was the first Asian country visited by the play's overseas tour.
At that time, it was only 5 years since Bai Xianyong led a group of experts and scholars to put the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" on the stage and let the once dusty Kunqu Opera embark on the road to revival.
Can the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" perfectly respond to the enthusiastic expectations of Singaporean audiences? No one dares to "pack tickets". Young creators can only bear the pressure and do their best. That time, the audience gave the warmest feedback to the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" with thunderous applause.
The youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" completely inherits the original words on Tang Xianzu's original work, and after careful combing, it is a story with "dream love", "human ghost love" and "human love" as the core. Selected of them twenty-seven folds, divided into upper, middle and lower three.
The whole performance will be 3 consecutive days, 3 hours a day, which is enough to let fans linger and indulge in the world of Kunqu Opera. As Bai Xianyong said: "Kunqu opera has no other words, and it has the word 'beauty', which is a comprehensive art of beauty. ”
After 15 years, the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" has long since faded away from the tension and youthfulness of that time, and has re-entered the Garden City. Since its premiere in 2004, the play has been performed nearly 500 times at home and abroad, covering dozens of cities at home and abroad. Not long ago, the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" opened the "Peony Blossom Twenty Years - The 20th Anniversary of the Youth Version of "The Peony Pavilion" and 500 Celebration Series Activities" in Taiwan, China, and has successfully completed a tour of 8 performances in 22 days.
Now in her twenties, she reunited with Singaporean audiences at her old place, the Esplanade, and tickets were sold out early. The day before the performance, Suzhou folk artists were showing a roadshow in Chinatown, Singapore, and the reporter met Aunt Wu who was promoting Suzhou to other passers-by among the Singaporeans who came to see the performance. She told reporters: "When Bai Xianyong came to Singapore with the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" 15 years ago, I went to see it for the first time, and this time I also wanted to buy tickets, but I found that it was sold out. In fact, Suzhou is very well-known in Singapore, so we don't need to recommend it to know. ”
During the intermission last night, the reporter noticed a Singaporean girl who came to watch the performance in full costume, she said: "This is the first time I have watched the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion", which is very different from the original version I watched in Shanghai before, and I feel more attractive." ”
There are also two local aunts who sit on a bench and discuss the hero and heroine. One of them told reporters that when Bai Xianyong took the two leading actors to Taiwan, China more than ten years ago, she was studying there. This time, I watched the youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" in my hometown, and I felt that the appearance of the two leading actors had not changed much, and I hope that Suzhou's "Jiangnan culture" can "go to sea" more and meet audiences around the world. (Su Bao Singapore special correspondent Wang Minyue text/photo Some pictures are provided by Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theater, Jiangsu Province)